The 2nd Pensions Asset
Allocation Summit

In addition to his role at M&G, Mark is a Member of the Independent Governance Committee at Zurich Insurance; Executive Chairman of the UBS (UK) Pension & Life Assurance Scheme Investment Committee; and a Member of the Investment & Funding and DC Committees at Lloyds Banking Group Pensions. He was previously the Chief Investment Officer of HSBC Bank Pension Trust (UK) Limited, who he joined in 2011.

Prior to this, he held a number of senior investment roles at Prudential/M&G. These included UK Equity Fund Manager, Head of Equity Research, Director of Collective Investments, and Investment & Strategy Director for Prudential Europe. 

Scott Anderson joined the Environment Agency Pension Fund (EAPF) in 2024 as Investment Manager.

In his role, Scott has particular emphasis on private market investments, but also holds responsibilities across public market portfolios. The EAPF has a target of achieving Net Zero across the portfolio by 2045, and, especially within private markets side, seeks to make environmentally and socially impactful investments.

Before joining the EAPF, Scott worked in healthcare/life sciences private equity for Ampersand Capital Partners, a specialist mid-market growth equity firm focused on investments in North America and Europe. Scott was part of the European investment team based in Amsterdam, where he had a distinct focus on investing in innovative, outsourced service providers (CDMOs and CROs) serving cutting edge biotherapeutics (cell and gene therapy, oncolytic virus, and viral vector vaccines).

Prior to Ampersand, Scott worked in the healthcare industry for GSK and Adaptimmune Therapeutics.

Scott holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of Aberdeen.

Oliver joined Foresight from Société Générale where he structured and arranged leveraged finance transactions for private equity backed LBOs.

Prior to this, Oliver spent several years with Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi where he was a credit research analyst.

Oliver graduated from the University of Nottingham with a degree in Industrial Economics.

He has also passed all three levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program.

Oliver is Lead Researcher at ClearGlass Analytics, a data analytics company in Institutional Investment helping Asset Owners and their Advisors to assess the Value for Money delivered by Asset Managers. 

He joined in 2021 and has responsibility for market analysis, value for money benchmarking and industry trends. 

Oliver is a Doctoral Candidate starting in 2022 at the University of Leeds, researching “Pricing Dynamics in Institutional Asset Management”, focusing on uncovering fee trends and paradigms amongst asset owners/managers/advisors, in public and private markets. 

Sally is Chair at Brunel Pension Partnership and at the Development Bank of Wales, as well as non-executive director at insurers Pension Insurance Corporation and Royal & Sun Alliance. 

Her non-executive portfolio has included roles at the Nuclear Liabilities Fund, NEST Corporation and the Lloyds Bank pension schemes and as Chair of the first local government pensions pool, Local Pensions Partnership Investments (LPPI) Limited.  She was CEO of the BP Pension Scheme in the interesting years of 2007-14 after twenty years with Aon Hewitt working as a pensions consultant and in investment research and innovation.

Jamie Broderick is a Board member at the Impact Investing Institute, an independent, non-profit UK organisation that aims to accelerate the growth and improve the effectiveness of the impact investing market.  The Institute is supported by the UK’s Government Inclusive Economy Unit, the City of London Corporation, and a number of financial services organisations in the UK.

Jamie was head of UBS Wealth Management in the UK from 2013-2017. Jamie joined UBS after nineteen years at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, latterly as Chief Executive of its European operations. He joined J.P. Morgan in New York in 1993 and moved to London in 1996. He started his financial services career at Wellington Management Company, an independent asset management partnership in Boston.

He studied Arabic Linguistics and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard College and continued those studies in a Ph.D. program at the University of Chicago.

Stephen leads the DC Team’s focus on DC investment strategy design which means much of his time is spent looking at the evolving area of private markets.

He is actively involved in a number of industry organisations and taskforces which share the same ambition of improving member outcomes. This includes working with the DCIF’s Advisory Committee, the Treasury’s Productive Finance Working Group which concluded in 2022, development of the Mansion House Compact and TPR private market guidance and now the FCA’s VFM Investment Performance Industry Working Group. 

Stephen’s clients include schemes of all sizes including large single sponsor arrangements as well as several Master Trust arrangements. Over the years, many of his clients have been pushing the boundaries of DC investment design, through illiquid holdings or new approaches to DC investment strategy design, leading to two innovation awards and more recently, Scheme of the Year, from Professional Pensions. 

Ian is the Deputy Chief Investment Officer of the British Business Bank (BBB), a government-owned economic development bank. Set up in 2014 following the economic crisis, its core mission is to drive sustainable growth and prosperity across the UK, and to enable the transition to a net zero economy, by improving access to finance for smaller businesses. 

Prior to this, Ian was the first team member of BBB’s commercial subsidiary, British Patent Capital, where he oversaw fund investments before becoming responsible for its Direct and Co-Investment activity.

Ian started his career in accountancy, subsequently moving into financial modelling at the Royal Bank of Scotland. He then joined a start-up before joining the forerunner organisation of BBB, Capital for Enterprise Ltd, in 2009.

Andy enjoys a portfolio career as a trustee and Non Executive Director. In the world of pensions, he is Chair of Trustees of the Nat West DC Plan, a NED at Capital Cranfield, and a member of the Investment and Funding Committee of the Lloyds Banking Group DB pension schemes.

Until 2019, Andy spent 30 years at Aon as an actuarial and Investment consultant, was a member of the Global Retirement & Investment Leadership and CEO of Aon Hewitt Ltd in the UK. He also sat on the Aon Global Operating Committee.

In his spare time, Andy enjoys skiing and scrambling with his family and has recently passed his private pilots license.  He is also looking forward to more success supporting Wales on the rugby pitch.

Craig has been investing in climate tech companies over the past 13 years at World Fund and SET Ventures, one of Europe’s longest-running climate funds.

He has pioneered ESG and Impact in the venture community after creating a leading ESG framework in 2012, as well as co-designing a model which links impact to fund performance and compensation, which is now used by over 50 funds. 

Craig is also an advisor to the EU Commission on Energy. 

Paddy is Assistant Executive Director at Greater Manchester Pension Fund with responsibility for Property, Local Investments and GLIL sitting on the Investment Committee.

The GLIL partnership is the first of its type in the LGPS and has an initial mandate to invest £1275m into direct infrastructure in the UK. The partners are looking to encourage collaboration within the LGPS on investment in infrastructure and believe that scale and appropriate governance structures can enhance returns.

Northern Pool has led the way in the LGPS investing in housing and property development in its local area with the twin aims of achieving commercial returns for the Fund whilst having a positive impact on the local economy.

Paddy has significant experience of investment in a wide range of assets including listed securities, infrastructure, private equity, and property and has previously worked at Merseyside Pension Fund.

Paddy is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and a graduate of Durham University.

Robert Gardner is a money expert, entrepreneur and financial activist on a mission to make money a force for good for people and the planet to create ‘financial wellbeing in a world worth living in’. 

In 2012, Rob co-founded RedSTART, a financial education charity which aims to plant the seeds for the financial freedom of younger people. He has also written a book, delivered a Tedx talk and appeared on BBC, Sky News and in newspapers discussing views around financial education for young people. 

In 2006, Rob shook up the UK pensions industry with the launch of Redington, now a leading investment consultancy whose mission is to create financial wellbeing for 100 million people in a way that protects the planet’s future. 

Having studied at the University of Oxford, Rob’s love of glaciers and passion for the planet’s prosperity have influenced his role in financial services. Responsible investment and using his position and expertise to drive better businesses for the earth and its people was a crucial part of his previous role as St. James’s Place’s (SJP) Director of Investments. In addition, Rob is a member of the World Economic Forum and sits on their retirement council.  

Rob is now the CEO & Co-Founder of Rebalance Earth, whose goal is to make money a force for good to help reverse climate change and biodiversity loss, by creating high-integrity biodiversity credits that puts a monetary value on nature, based on its ability to absorb carbon, protect and grow biodiversity and support local communities that preserve it. 

Hill is UK Head of Sustainable Investment in Mercer’s Global Sustainable Investment (SI) team. 

He provides advice to sustainable investment leaders on integrating sustainability issues throughout their investment strategy. Hill has extensive experience advising institutional investors on a range of areas including impact investing, climate change & net-zero, nature and biodiversity, sustainable investment strategies, stewardship and regulatory developments. 

Hill advises a number of ambitious investors on designing, implementing, managing and measuring impact portfolios, across listed and private markets. He is responsible for the creation and ongoing development of Mercer’s impact services delivered through the Impact Pathway.  

Hill holds a joint Honors degree in Economics and International Development from the University of Bath. He is a CFA Charterholder. 

Douglas Hansen-Luke is the Executive Chairman and Founder of Future Planet Capital, where he leads the Future Planet flagship fund and Global Growth strategies.

He spearheaded FPC’s investment and a $100m+ syndicate into Barinthus Bio (formerly Vaccitech), the Oxford spinout behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which prevented the deaths of over 6 million individuals.

Of the 50 portfolio companies within Global Growth, Douglas has particularly investments into NeoVac, Nutri-San and Pragmatic Semiconductors.

With nearly 20 years of experience in emerging markets, Douglas has overseen the deployment and marketing of over $13bn across emerging asset classes. His career includes leadership roles at Robeco (CEO for ME, Africa & Central Asia), bfinance (Board Advisor and CEO for ME, Africa & Central Asia), ABN AMRO Asset Management (Far East, Global & Regional roles), and Bain & Company (Eastern Europe and UK privatisation in the 1990s).

Douglas advises global institutional investors on university venture and emerging asset classes. He has authored book chapters for the Financial Times and appeared as a speaker on the BBC’s Today programme, Bloomberg, and CNBC.

Mark is a Trustee and former Chief Investment Officer of the Nationwide Pension Fund, where he had responsibility for the performance and implementation of the asset allocation strategies agreed with the fund investment advisors.

Previously, he led the establishment of Nationwide’s Covered Bond programme and its Silverstone RMBS Master Trust funding vehicle. In addition, Mark has securitised UK Student Loans and a synthetic corporate bond structure along with structured transaction and investment in various ABS instruments. Past experience also includes leading the origination and structuring of social housing, PFI and commercial real estate debt transactions.

Chris is Chairman of the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, a pooling vehicle set up by twelve LGPS pension funds with assets of over £40 billion.

He was one of the inaugural Trustees at Nest, a 9 million member DC scheme, and returned to its Board in 2018, where he chaired the Investment Committee. Chris was also corporate Chair at the Pension SuperFund, an initiative to consolidate private sector DB pension schemes.

Chris was a Board member for the Toronto-based International Centre for Pensions Management, and for the UK’s Investor Forum, a conduit for strategic dialogue between companies and investors, and an outcome of the Kay Review, on which Chris served.

Chris is an Actuary, a Past Chair of the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association and an Honorary Fellow of the CFA Society of the UK. He and his wife Pip have four mostly grown-up sons and in his spare time, Chris runs marathons slowly.

Veronica Humble leads NatWest Cushon’s investment function. Prior to this role she was Head of DC Investments at Legal and General Investment Management and held a number of roles across LGIM’s Investments and Distribution before that.

She started her career as a quantitative analyst in Phoenix Group. She has MSc in mathematics and a PhD in statistics.

Kerry is the Executive Director of Capital Markets at Accounting for Sustainability (A4S), where she is responsible for leading their Capital Markets programme to accelerate awareness and action towards a global sustainable financial system.  

This includes running the A4S Asset Owners Network for pension fund chairs, supporting their commitments to embed sustainability into their strategic and investment decisions; convening senior finance to address specific challenges faced by the financial sector; and leading on guidance to scale up adoption of sustainable action by pension scheme trustees and finance within the banking and insurance sectors.

Having worked on numerous sustainability initiatives of His Majesty King Charles III, Kerry first joined A4S in 2006 and returned in 2017, to drive support for and adoption across a global CFO community on the recommendations of the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). 

Denise Le Gal is the Chair of Brightwell Pensions, a company providing services for defined benefit (DB) pension schemes. It is the primary service provider to the £37bn BT Pensions Scheme, one of the largest private sector pension schemes in the UK. 

As Chair, Denise leads the Board and ensures it meets its collective responsibilities. 

Denise brings a wealth of experience to Brightwell, having previously served as the founding Chair of Brunel Pension Partnership, Chair of the LGA’s Local Government Pension Committee (LGPC) and as Board Member on the LGPS Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) from inception to May 2019. She has also served as Co- Chair of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF).

In addition to her role at Brightwell, Denise is the Chair of the JPM Chase UK Retirement Plan.

Denise grew up on a farm in Canada and has a BA from Carleton University. She left Canada in 1985 to complete an MBA at INSEAD and subsequently pursued a career in banking at Salomon Brothers, Chase Manhattan and IBJ.

James joined Foresight in 2007 from Deloitte’s Strategy Consulting team.

James has 19 years of experience and is a member of the Investment Committee and the Executive Committee.

Alongside Matt Smith, James manages the Private Equity Team. James is responsible for originating, negotiating and managing growth and buyout investments in a variety of sectors.

James holds a Master’s degree in Natural Sciences and Management studies from Cambridge University as well as the CIMA Advanced Diploma in Management Accounting.

Neil leads the £6bn+ Surrey Pension Fund, with near 130,000 members and over 500 employers. Surrey is one of the 11 LGPS partner funds that make up the Border to Coast asset pool. 

Neil believes excellence in service delivery is best achieved through an integrated pension service with equal emphasis on all elements of the business, and a laser focus on the customer. 

The Surrey Fund has received pension industry acknowledgement for its outstanding approach to risk management, governance, responsible investing and most recently, administration.

Neil is a member of the PLSA Policy Board, and its Local Authority Committee. He is also the Independent Chair of the Local Pension Board for the London Borough of Hounslow, and an Independent Advisor to the Local Pension Board of the South Yorkshire Pension Authority. 

He is the father of twin boys who are both off doing far more interesting things than he ever did at university. In his spare time, he supports Queens Park Rangers and three putts.

Ian is a highly experienced pensions investment executive.

He has been the Chief Investment Officer at Lloyds Banking Group Pensions, overseeing some £40bn of assets across both DB and DC sections. He joined Lloyds from Aviva, where he carried out a similar role.

Prior to that, he was the CIO of the Pension Protection Fund. Ian is also a member of the actuarial profession’s Finance and Investment Board, while also being Chairman of EPFIF’s Pension Fund Investment Advisory Committee.

Charlotte Moore is an award-winning journalist and communications consultant, who has written about investments and pensions for 18 years.

She writes for a number of well-respected trade magazines. She examines how institutions like pension schemes and insurers allocate capital. Investing to protect the planet and improve society is one of her areas of expertise and she holds regular salons, where panellists are invited to debate different sustainable institutional investment topics. She is often asked to moderate panel topics at external conferences.

Toby Nangle is Contributing Editor for the Financial Times.

He spent 25 years in the asset management industry, most recently as Global Head of Asset Allocation at Columbia Threadneedle, where he led an award-winning asset allocation investment team of 26 professionals, based across four time-zones, managing c$160bn AuM for a range of institutional and retail clients. 

Steph took up the role of Head of Pension Scheme Executive for M&G in July 2024, assuming responsibility for the company’s three staff pension schemes.

She previously spent 19 years at Lloyds Banking Group in a number of pensions roles, ultimately taking responsibility for all member facing activity and strategic change as Head of Pensions Operations. Working on the Lloyds schemes provided the opportunity for Steph to build a broad experience, including the challenge of GMP equalisation through the court case and subsequent implementation. 

Steph’s primary focus is on the member experience within pension schemes, which she views as becoming ever more critical with the shift to DC pensions and the need for members to understand their retirement savings and options. 

Having spent over 20 years’ working with institutional asset owners and managers, Jignasa is currently part of Carne’s business development team, focusing on structuring investment solutions across a range of institutional clients. This includes working with clients on the AMX platform and in developing Long Term Asset Fund (LTAF) solutions at Carne. 

Having started her career at Mercer Investment Consulting, Jignasa specialised in manager research and working with institutional clients to advise on broader manager portfolios. During her subsequent role at Willis Towers Watson, Jignasa worked with both delegated and advisory clients, leading on both manager selection and portfolio construction, in both their Sydney and London offices.  

Jignasa is a member of the Board of Directors of Carne’s UK regulated management company, and is a CFA charterholder. 

Roland is a member of the Treasury’s pensions investment team.

Since joining the department in 2008 he has worked in a series of financial services-related roles covering EU regulations, tax and capital markets policy. Prior to joining the civil service he worked in a retail financial derivatives business.

Duncan Sankey is Head of Credit Research at Cheyne Capital, having joined Cheyne as a senior analyst in 2003. Duncan has overall responsibility for Cheyne’s credit research efforts, and sits on Cheyne’s ESG Forum and its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. He regularly presents Cheyne’s view on industry issues in thought-leadership articles for financial publications. 

Duncan has 37 years of experience in credit, including running sell-side research at Nomura and Greenwich NatWest, prior to which he was a senior analyst for Moody’s Investors’ Service in London and New York; he began his career with Morgan Guaranty.  

Duncan graduated from St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he was awarded an MA in Medieval and Modern Languages. Duncan also has an MSc in Corporate Governance and Ethics from Birkbeck, University of London, where, having subsequently become a governor, he now chairs the Investment Committee and is a member of the Audit and Digital Committees. 

Duncan was a member of the London Centre for Corporate Governance and Ethics and formerly sat on the Education and Examinations Committee of CFA UK.  He co-authored “Opening Credit: A Practitioner’s Guide to Credit Investment.” 

Hugh is currently an independent investment advisor and pension scheme trustee. From 2005-2023 he was the Chief Investment Officer of the British Steel Pension Fund and CEO of the Scheme’s in house asset manager, where he had overall responsibility for the management of the Scheme’s investment portfolio (peaking at £15.6bn), reporting directly to the Scheme Chairman.

He sat on the advisory committees for a number of the Scheme’s outsourced investments. He is a long serving member of the advisory committee of the UK Pension Fund Investment Forum.

Hugh has 40 years’ experience in financial services, having previously headed Swiss Re’s UK asset management operation, prior to which he held senior treasury roles in global reinsurance, investment banking and technology companies.  

Hugh is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and a Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers where he has served as a member of the Education Committee. He is a member of the CFA Society of the UK and an alumnus of London Business School. He holds a degree in Mathematical Statistics & Operational Research from Exeter University where he was sponsored by British Steel. 

Hugh was awarded Chief Investment Officer of the Year 2019 at the Institutional Investor European Peer-to-Peer Awards and Chief Investment Officer of the Year 2018 at the Institutional Investor Institute UK & Ireland Peer-to-Peer Awards. 

British Steel Pension Fund was awarded the following by IPE (Investment & Pensions Europe): 2016 – Joint Best Long Term Investment Strategy & Best In-House Investment Team; 2015 – Best European Pension Fund, Best In-House Investment Team & Best UK Pension Fund; 2014 – Best In-House Investment Team & Best UK Pension Fund; 2013 – Best Long Term Investment Strategy; 2012 – Best In-House Investment Team; 2011 – Joint Best In-House Investment Team/ Best Pension Fund Owned Asset Manager; 2008 – Best European Corporate Pension Fund & Best UK Pension Fund. 

Ruston has 40 years experience in the pension fund and investment industry, led industry initiatives supporting customers and government – and has worked for charities for over 15 years.

He was the former Group Pensions, Insurable Risk and a People Director at Tesco, set up and was the CEO of Tesco Pension Investment Ltd – FCA approved in house investment manager. Previously he was the PLC Company Secretary for PZ Cussons plc where he was also responsible for group pensions, insurable risk, legal and property.

Ruston is now the Chair of the Tesco Pension Fund (DB and DC) and former Chair of the FCA approved Tesco Pension Investment Ltd, Independent Trustee and Chair of the Funding and Investment Committee for the BAE Pension Fund, Non Exec Chair of JP Morgan Asset Management Ltd (UK and EMEA), former Non Exec Chair of Smart Pension Ltd (award winning FinTech) remaining a Senior Advisor, Non Exec Chair of the Asset Management Exchange ICAV, Non Exec Chair of Guiide (FinTech), Non Exec Chair of the Pensions Management Institute, Governor of the Pensions Policy Institute and Chair of GroceryAid, an industry charity. Also sits on the Genomic Development Board for Sarcoma UK.

Ruston was on the DC Patient Capital Steering Committee and the Bank of England, Treasury and FCA’s Steering Group on Investment in Productive Finance and now sits on the Expert Panel for the British Venture Capital Association. He has also served on the Advisory Board for the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute and established and chaired the MBA Alumni for the Manchester Metropolitan University.

He was a former Chair of the PLSA, Co Chair of the DWP’s 2017 Auto Enrolment Review Board, led the Simpler Annual Statement initiative (now a regulatory requirement), chaired the cross regulator and industry ‘Standardised Assumptions Group’, led the Members’ Costs and Charges Initiative and co-leads the Lifetime Savings Initiative. Also a former Trustee Board Director of two Master Trusts.

He has served over 16 years with UK charities which includes GroceryAid which he now chairs, the Genomic Development Board for Sarcoma UK and the National Council for Palliative Care – and has completed a number of challenges to raise money for charitable purposes. MBA with distinction. A Fellow of the Pensions Management Institute, a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

He has also been recognised for a number of industry awards including Lifetime Achievement Award for the Pension Industry, Pensions Personality of the Year, Good Fellow Award from Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, Trustee of the Year, Pensions Manager of the Year, Innovation Initiative of the Year, DC Champion of the Year.

Mark Tennant is a Trustee of the Country Landowners Pension Fund, a Trustee of the Royal Hospital Chelsea and a Non-Executive Director of the Unit Trust of India International. He also leads a charity devoted to stopping young offenders from reoffending. 

He was until recently the Chairman of Centrica Pension Funds, and Chairman of Scottish Land and Estates, after spending 28 years with J.P. Morgan Chase as a Senior Adviser, and CFO of the Global Custody Division. 

Prior to that, Mark was at Hill Samuel, Fidelity and Hambros Bank, and served as the Conservative Party candidate against Gordon Brown in 1992 and against Winnie Ewing for the European seat of the Highland and Islands in 1994. 

In the late 80’s, Mark served as the Treasurer for the Conservative Party for Scotland, and the Treasurer for the Better Together Campaign under Alistair Darling in 2014. He also served seven years in the Scots Guards, spent a year nursing in India, and is an Officer of the Queen’s Bodyguard in Scotland. 

Away from work, his main interests are history, travel and Scottish music, particularly the Highland Bagpipe, which he plays. 

Luke is the outgoing Chief Investment Officer of the Greater London Authority, and CEO of London Treasury, the GLA’s regulated asset management subsidiary.

His work in local impact investment including VC, housing and infrastructure together with allocating assets for London Treasury’s £4bn collective investment vehicle bring him into frequent contact with pension fund investors and their asset managers. 

He is a former Chief Finance & Risk Officer of the London Pensions Fund Authority, and has worked extensively in  private equity, most recently as a NED in businesses seeking to consolidate DB pensions. 

In February, he becomes the Bursar of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and will be moving to a non-executive role at London Treasury.